But the homage to the gold age of Classic Key...I mean the classic age of Gold Key..doesn't end at the covers. From stem to stern this ish of Radioactive Man mimics its inspiration and milks it for fun, from the inside cover "educational" comic...

...to the "Club News"...

...and even Gold Key's infamous cartoon contests!

Even the comic itself is a salute: like most issues of Radioactive Man, the interior art style mimics the comic it's inspired by, in this case Gold Key's sixties borderless panels and rectangular speech balloons:

Gold Key Comics! From a time where every cartoon character and every nightly TV show had its own comic book. No elaborate crossovers, they only cost 12 or 15 cents, and they actually went far out of their way to avoid restarting a series with a new #1!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

...and I thought it would be fun to feature an entire week of Warriors Three Marvel trading cards from all those various series licensed to card companies! Unfortunately...as far as I can tell (and let me know if I'm wrong, Bully-boosters!), none of the various 1990s Marvel cards featured our trio of titanic troopers. By Odin! What's up with that?!?

Yeah, sure, there's a card featuring the Asgardians, but only Thor, Odin, and Loki appear on it.

In fact, it's usually only Thor and Loki, and occasionally Beta Ray Bill, who make any appearances at all on Marvel cards. (Tough luck for you Sif fans, huh?) And even when he is featured, Thor, not unlike his Midgardian secret identity Rodney Dangerfield, seldom gets any respect. Here's a mural of nine cards featuring the "mythic" characters of 1990s Marvel. Sure, Thor's on there...but is he in the middle?

No. He is not. Instead, that honor is reserved for one of Marvel's most popular and enduring characters:

COBWEB! With the power of...mildly making your home a little more disheveled. Yep, remember when Sleepwalker was popular? Sleepwalker!: Created with the express purpose of being more Sandman than anything else Marvel published, including that Spider-Man villain spin-off Sandman. And he had a dog named Rambo! Yep, that topical reference will never get old!

Say, Bully, (you're probably asking), what other Marvel characters were considered more worthy of being featured on a bubblegum card than three immortal warrior-gods co-created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby? And, how do you keep your fuzzy fur so shiny and glossy? Answers: plenty of raw eggs and a nightly dose of castor oil. Also, these guys:

Cardinal! The superhero with the power of voting for the next Pope!

Heart Attack! She strikes...with the proportionate strength of a stick of butter!

Splice! He'll fix your ruined VHS and Betamax tapes!

MLF! Hey, how come Marvel never uses that acronym anymore?

Proctor! Don't cheat on that standardized test near him!

Blackheart! From the post-Frank Miller, ultra-gritty and realistic years of Daredevil!

Calypso! She's...not wearing a bra. Geez, lady!

Deadzone! One of the terrifying members of the supervillain team King's Klan, including Cujo, It, Night Shift, Tommyknocker, and Stephen King Goes to the Movies!

Goddess! Her real name is Goddess! Her parents must have met at Woodstock!

And then there's this guy.

Whoa, enough cards there, Gambit? Remember the rule of this blog, folks: this is the only acceptable Gambit, in card form or otherwise!

Well, that's just plain Ragnarok-grettable. So many chances to feature the Warriors Three, so many cards tossed away on second- or third-stringer has-beens whose action figures gather dust in the Big Lots of America's strip malls. Remember folks, Kirby Kharacters will endure! Also, kooler to kollect.

To be absolutely fair, earlier this year the W3 were featured on cards tying in with Marvel's hit movie Captain AmericaThor! It was really rather humiliating, however, that the Warriors Three had to cut patches out their undershortsr to create these cards.

Say, what was that Lucy van Pelt said at the beginning?

He never got his picture on bubblegum cards, did he? Have you ever seen his picture on a bubblegum card? Hmmm? How can you say someone is great who's never had his picture on bubblegum cards?

Huh. Well, this blog is all about righting rights and Jane Wiedlin, so let me introduce, for the very first time ever, straight outta Asgard...

Warriors Three Bubblegum cards!

There ya go, kids! Cut them out and collect 'em all! Trade 'em with your friends! Put 'em in your bicycle wheel spokes! Use them to whup the asses of anybody playing the Pokemon trading card game! Slip 'em into a deck of cards at a Vegas gaming table! But most of all, love them. And they'll love you right back. That's how cool they are.

Mister G. drew this sketch for me for donating to a well-worthy event, the NYC Liver Life Walk. I've really got to give a salute to the artists and creators who often support great causes by contributing artwork for donations. Everybody wins! Especially since I pictured the sketch would be a three-by-four sketchcard...imagine my little stuffed surprise and delight when an envelope arrived with this lovely 8½ by 11 art, plus a signed G-Man comic book! Wow! (To get the fullest Volstaggariffic look at the sketch, click on the artwork above.)